by Diane Bator
“Sit.” He motioned to the chair beside him.
“Not a chance.” Her chin quivered. “You were right. I give up. I don’t need to play detective. Thayer and Fabio can handle everything. I’m going home.” She turned to walk away.
Thayer steered her to the desk. “Your boss told you to sit.”
“He’s not my boss. I’ve already quit twice.” She folded her arms across her chest. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t work here anymore, and I’m never coming back.”
“It’s okay, Gilda,” Fabio said. “You’re scared and in shock. We all understand.” He looked past her and frowned. “Mick, I need your clothes for evidence.”
“Sure.” When Mick stripped off his shirt to reveal rippling muscles, a female officer tried to hide her stare. “Gilda, can you do me one last favor? Grab me a change of clothes from the desk in my office.”
“No,” she snapped.
“I’ll get them,” Thayer said.
“Gilda knows where my things are,” Mick insisted.
She scowled, curious why he wouldn’t trust anyone else. “Fine, but after that I’m leaving.”
“Thanks,” Mick said. “After you get my clothes, you can go.”
Gilda wove through the maze of people and paused in the doorway of Mick’s office. Pristine was the first word that sprang to mind. Too pristine, considering the current state of the rest of the building and how messy the school was just a short while ago, especially with Mick living there lately. He wasn’t normally that tidy.
His clothes were folded neatly on the desk, not slung over the back of a chair. His sandals, the only thing out of place, sat under the desk, not on the shelf out front as usual. Beneath his clothes, lay a stack of papers. Rental agreements for a building in Detroit Yoshida had signed and stuck bright yellow paper arrows where Mick was to initial and sign.
Gilda blew out a breath, grabbed his clothes and stuck the papers beneath her shirt with a sudden yearning to hear what he had to say. She clutched the papers against her stomach with one arm then rejoined the men and handed Thayer the clothes.
“Do you want to search them to make sure I didn’t smuggle him a weapon?” she asked.
When Mick blanched, she shook her head a fraction of an inch.
Thayer hesitated then shook out each item of clothing and handed them to Mick. “He can change, but I want one of my officers to keep an eye on him.”
“Fine by me.” Mick unzipped his jeans and dropped them to the floor. He stood behind the desk, wearing nothing except a pair of Snoopy boxer shorts, then stuck his thumbs in the waistband. “Did you want these too?”
“No!” Both Thayer and Gilda hollered.
The female officer’s mouth dropped open and her face darkened to crimson.
“Put your pants on.” Fabio chuckled.
Gilda turned her back. She was used to seeing Mick walk around with no shirt, but not in his skivvies. Aside from when he woke up in her bed. First he’d professed his love to her, now he was practically naked in front of her and most of the local police force. How much more of his insanity could she stand without long, cold shower?
“Come and sit.” Mick patted the chair beside him. When both officers moved closer, he held up a hand. “Just Gilda. The rest of you take a hike.”
“Keep in mind she’s not a lawyer,” Thayer said. “There are no confidentiality rights between an employer and employee.”
Fabio yanked his partner away from the front desk. “Give them two minutes before you walk Mick to the gallows. You can interrogate them both later.”
Gilda hadn’t even sat down before Mick grabbed her arm.
“Did you find the papers?” He pulled her so close their noses bumped. When she lifted her shirt and showed him the papers, he kissed her then grinned. “Anything else under there I should know about?”
“What are the rental papers for?” she asked. “What’s Yoshida up to?”
“I know whose ring you found.
Gilda sat back, her mouth open wide. “Whose?”
He whispered. “Xavier was looking for it the other day. His father-in-law’s a goldsmith. The same goldsmith who made a copy of Xavier’s one-of-a-kind ring for Yoshida a couple years ago after Xavier and his wife split up.”
“When I asked him about it, he never said a word,” she said. “Even when you mentioned it at Razi’s house.”
“Shh!” He pulled her by the front of her T-shirt until their noses touched again. “He hid it from one of his ex-wives. He didn’t dare say anything or he would’ve been a suspect.”
“He already was a suspect,” Gilda said. “So who killed Walter and Erik?”
Mick glanced toward the dojo where Fabio leaned in the doorway, doing a bad job of pretending not to watch them. “I don’t even know who killed Xavier. Someone knocked me out and left long before I woke up.”
“Yeah. I guessed that by your footprint in the blood.”
“Huh?”
“The blood was already congealed when you stepped in it. If it was still wet and runny when you got here, I don’t think your print would be so clear.” She hesitated, sure his eyes glazed over. “This really doesn’t matter, does it?”
Mick grinned. “You amaze me. All I know is that Xavier and I planned to train for a couple hours. I went to my office to make a phone call and change. When I came out, I heard a noise. Someone hit me from behind and knocked me out. Xavier was dead when I came to. I tried to give him CPR. Then I heard another noise.”
“The killer?” Gilda tensed.
“A cat.”
“A cat? From where?” she asked.
Mick motioned his head toward the wall. “The vent, which leads to the roof. It would be a pretty handy way for someone to sneak in and out without being seen.”
But only for someone a great deal smaller than either Razi or Mick. She shivered. So much for her theory. Yoshida was a black belt who was smaller than both men, but could walk in and out of the school without anyone paying much attention. Why would he bother to hide?
“When did you call the police?” she asked.
He reached for the hand sanitizer on her desk. The empty bottle sputtered when he squeezed it. “After I checked his pulse and before I checked out the vent. Marion took the call.”
“Yeah, she phoned me.”
“And you came running to make sure I was dead.”
Gilda frowned. “She said there was an emergency and I should get over here.”
He gave her a hand a squeeze. “I thought maybe she told you I was the murderer and to stay away from me if you valued your life.”
“Why would she tell me that?” She tilted her head.
“Because I was a blubbering idiot when I called, and probably said I was covered in blood.” He studied his hands as though they belonged to someone else. “I need a hot shower and something to scrub off with.”
“I need a word with your boyfriend.” Thayer shooed Gilda away. After fifteen minutes of interrogation, he let Mick go. “Don’t leave town or else.”
“Thanks, but I live at the school right now.” Mick stared at the computer mouse. “I don’t have anywhere to go until Chloe leaves town. She was supposed to show up to pick up her plane ticket. Gilda, do we have more hand sanitizer?”
“Yeah, in the back. I’ll get you some.” She bit back an offer that Mick could go home with her. Not only would Thayer take it the wrong way. So would Mick. She headed toward the utility room and opened the door.
Bleach wasn’t something they normally used in the school, yet there were five bottles in the closet. Large bottles that would take her both hands to move. She leaned into the closet for the mop and cleaner. The smell from the bottles made her gag. Whatever was in them certainly didn’t smell like bleach. More like gasoline.
“Mick.” She called, ignoring everyone, but the rumpled, bloody man who lumbered toward her. “Did you put these here?”
“Bleach?” he asked. “You know I never use the stuff. What’re the
y doing here?”
“I’ve never seen them before either,” she said, “and they sure don’t smell like bleach.”
Thayer shoved her aside. He grabbed a bottle and sniffed the contents then yelled for everyone to clear the building. At first, no one moved. They all seemed to hold their breaths.
Fabio limped around the corner. “What is it?”
“Gasoline,” Thayer said. “Enough to burn this place and half of Main Street to the ground.” He turned to Mick. “It’s time you came to the police station.”
Mick shook his head. “This wasn’t my doing. Dust them for fingerprints. This place is all I have, so why would I want to torch it? Whoever put them there is still out there somewhere.”
“If you don’t come peacefully, I’ll have to cuff you,” Thayer said.
Mick’s shoulders tensed. “I’m probably safer there than here anyway.”
Gilda almost agreed until something caught her attention. The bottles were stacked neatly, not set inside in a line. Three bottles on the bottom with a board wide enough to balance the remaining two bottles sat on top of the lower three. It appeared someone with an obsessive-compulsive disorder had cleaned and reorganized the utility room. Yoshida.
Fabio turned to Gilda. “I’ll need your keys to lock up before you leave.”
Mick said nothing, but when he glanced into the closet again, the angle of his head spoke volumes. “She’s not safe here either.”
Thayer narrowed his eyes. “You know something, don’t you? What did you see?”
“I know either one of us could be next,” Mick said.
Gilda craned her head for a better view. Several rolls of paper towel were stacked in the same pattern behind the bleach bottles. All it would take was for someone to toss a match on the paper towels to melt the plastic enough so the school and the consignment shop next door would explode. Her knees weakened as she struggled to catch her breath.
Mick nudged her arm. “Can Gilda grab one last thing from my office before we go?”
“Quickly,” Thayer said. “We have to get out of here.”
“My wallet. It’s on the shelf with the candles.” Mick leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Call Razi. I’ll text you later. We can meet at Café Beanz.”
She half-ran to Mick’s office. On the shelf above his desk stood the tower of candles Yoshida had built. Three on the bottom with a ruler supporting the remaining two. Everything stacked so there was an object between the two layers. Just like the bleach and the paper towels. Was Mick trying to tell her he’d figured it out too?
She returned with his wallet, her hands shaking. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be much better when this is over.” He gave her a one-armed hug, hard enough for the papers in her shirt to crackle between them then flashed a weak smile. “Give Fabio your key then go home. I’ll call you when they release me.”
Gilda grabbed her purse and scurried out the door, armed with the lease documents. Now all she needed was to fill in the blanks and put it all together.
Chapter 35
Despite having quit her job twice and no longer wanting any involvement with the school, the murders or Mick, Gilda called Razi when she got home. “Sensei Mick is at the police station for questioning. You should pick him up and make sure he gets home okay.”
“That is not what Sensei Mick told me when he called.”
“What did he tell you?” Her heart sank. Busted. So much for quitting and not being involved. She shouldn’t have walked, but run away from it all. What was wrong with her?
“He will meet us at Café Beanz once Thayer releases him,” Razi said.
She sighed. “That could be hours from now.”
“That is true,” he said. “Sensei Mick also asked me to check on you. He wants to know if you are upset with him.”
“Upset with him?” Anger burst through her carefully constructed dam. “How could I not be upset with him? He never mentioned the missing merchandise. Never told me about Walter’s past or the whole mess with Chloe and Gary until I was smack in the middle of it. I could’ve been killed just for being anywhere near him.” She sucked in a sorely needed breath. “How in heaven’s name could I not be upset?”
Razi remained silent for a long minute. He must have been trying to choose his words carefully. “Miss Wright, I will meet you at Café Beanz at four. We will sit in a booth near the window and you can try to convince me you do not care what happens to Sensei Mick. Okay?”
“Huh?”
“I will see you at four,” he said. “Please try to think of something constructive to assist us in stopping the murderer.”
When he hung up, she stared at the phone with her mouth agape. Razi was right. Even after everything that had happened, the murders, the whack to her head, she and Mick’s misguided kisses, the three of them were still a team. Both Razi and Mick needed her to set her anger aside to help them catch the murderer.
Unable to relax, she cleaned the house. Her hands wiped away dust while her mind sifted through evidence and events. Had she missed anything? Was there a suspect she hadn’t even considered, someone who had grievances with the instructors and the school? All her thoughts came back to Yoshida and Mick.
The phone jolted Gilda away from her mental checklist. Her stomach slithered in and out of knots as she let it ring until the answering machine picked up.
“Oh, brother.” Marion groaned over the speaker. “Gilda, don’t you ever answer the phone? You’re not at the school, you’re not at home, where are you?”
She grabbed the phone. “I didn’t hear the phone over the vacuum cleaner.”
“You’re a bad liar, honey. I’m standing outside your front door. I haven’t heard any vacuum cleaner since I got here five minutes ago.”
Gilda froze. More slithering knots. She really needed to give up trying to lie to people. It rarely seemed to work. She hung up and let Marion inside. “I should’ve called when I got home, but I was too wound up. Coffee or tea?”
“Water’s fine. I walked here from work. Maybe you’re right. I do need to work out with you. Walking six blocks knocks me out of breath.” Marion followed her to the kitchen. “I saw Thayer drag Mick into the police station. Do the police think he killed Xavier?”
Gilda poured two glasses of water. “He’s the closest thing to a witness they have. They’ll interrogate him then let him go.” She hoped.
“You don’t think he killed anyone, do you?” Marion asked.
She leaned against the cupboard then blew out a long breath. The only viable suspects she’d come up with, aside from Mick, were Razi and Yoshida. They each had keys to enter the school. Yoshida had motives and the ability to sneak in undetected. Razi fell short. He had no motive she knew of and no way he could sneak in without being seen. He did, however, have a military background and was a trained killer.
“Are you okay, honey?” Marion tilted her head. “You look pale.”
She glanced at the clock. Almost time to meet Mick and the trained killer at Café Beanz. Right on time, her phone chimed. A text from Razi who was at the café. Mick was on his way. “Sorry, I have to go.”
“Oh.” Marion’s face fell. “Where are you off to? I’ll walk with you.”
“That’s not necessary. I’m fine.”
“I’m going with you.” She stood and set her glass in the sink. “I might not be a karate master, but I am intimidating. Besides, I’m worried you or Mick are next.”
The thought had crossed Gilda’s mind several times since Walter’s death, but Mick had managed to convince her otherwise. Until now. Her hand shook when she reached for her house key and purse. “I’m not worried.”
“You’re a bad liar.” Marion caught her in a hug. “You’re scared to death and don’t know who to trust, what to think, or what to do next. I’m the only real friend you’ve got right now, honey. I’ll watch your back.”
Gilda swallowed back tears. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Me neither, b
ut I’d never forgive myself if I handed you off to a murderer.” Marion stood her ground. “Stalemate. What do we do now?”
She took a deep breath. “We go together and hope for the best.”
Chapter 36
Seated in a corner booth in Café Beanz, Razi flinched when both Gilda and Marion walked in. Darkness passed over his face before he flashed a weak smile. “Miss Yearly, I do not believe you were on the guest list.”
Marion glowered at Razi while Gilda sat near the window. “Look, buddy, I’m the nine-one-one operator who’s taken all the calls about your friends at the school. Gilda’s my best friend and I don’t trust you or Mick anymore.”
Razi’s eyebrows jumped as he glanced to Gilda. “Why have you brought this woman?”
Marion ordered her coffee then flashed a saccharin smile. “I’m her bodyguard.”
“You are?” Gilda asked.
“You do know Miss Wright is a green belt in karate and perfectly capable of taking care of her own body,” he said.
Marion sat back and lowered her chin to her chest. Her gaze never left his face. “Look, tough guy, she’s my friend. I’m here to look out for her, so get over it.”
Gilda’s jaw tightened. “We want some answers.”
“As do we all,” Razi said.
She opened her purse and handed Razi the papers from Mick’s desk. “Mick had these. You need to look them over before he gets here.”
“Do I get to read them?” Marion asked. “I didn’t kill anyone, but I do have a vested interest in everything that’s happening. My bestie’s life’s in danger.”
Razi’s mouth twitched. “I will read them then decide if that is appropriate.”
“Muscle head.” Marion frowned. “You think you’re all that just because you have a black belt in karate. Boy, do I have news for you.”
When the waitress brought their coffees, Gilda reached for her cup. “I wouldn’t mouth off to him if I were you. He’s trained in Krav Maga and has black belts in Jiu jitsu and karate.”
Marion sucked in a sharp breath and raised her eyebrows, her gaze on Razi. “Are you single? I could use a bodyguard.”
